Shout
by Baby Darth Dalloway
Summary: What happens when Emily, along with the other Liars, find out the truth of Ali's complete and total innocence concerning Mona's murder? It's easy to say, she won't take it well. ONE-SHOT EMISON. A little bit of hope amidst the episodes of PLL that seem to leave Emison in doubt. I hope you all enjoy. Please Read, Do Review.


Shout

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><p>Hi Guys. I'm always going to be honest with you. So with that being said, I fully intend on finishing the three stories on my to do list. However, the show has brought very little Emison inspiration to me. I don't want to write these stories without motivation because it's a disservice, especially to all of you lovely readers who have continued to ask and request these stories be completed. I thank you for your continued patience.<p>

I'm trying to write little things, like this one shot, here and there to build up my writer mojo again, and while I know many of you want "For Me and You" updated, I ask to continue waiting. I'm not going to give you a half-assed finish. Better late than terrible. :)

I feel disconnected from the characters, especially while watching the show because I think bitches need to pipe the fuck down, but I digress ;) So this one-shot is another attempt at me trying to find them again. I would love some reviews letting me know if I'm getting back to that space in the characters heads.

In other news, this has spoilers if you squint. If you don't watch any previews or anything, you probably won't even realize it's a spoiler, though you've been warned.

The title is from another Denmark and Winter Song… I freaking love their covers, they're amazing. But anywho.

Until next time my friends. Now, on with the show.

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><p>Generally speaking, drives clear my head. I relax. I watch the world around me fly by. I listen to music that soothes my soul. Driving is normally my time to relax. Maybe I would be relaxed if I wasn't driving to a jail.<p>

It's one thing to have your heart broken. It's one thing to have someone betray you, but I have to say, being the one who does the betrayal? I had no idea what it would feel like.

People say that bullies are the ones who are in more pain than their victims, because when all is said and done, not only are they in the pain that caused them to bully, but afterword they have to live with the pain they simultaneously inflicted. It's almost like double the pain, and now that I'm living it, I can't help but empathize with what Ali was going through…and what we made her go through.

What _I_ made her go through.

Once we found more evidence about A and realized the hard truth that Alison was not the person torturing us, or the person who killed Mona, I felt my blood run cold. It still feels cold.

Aria, Spencer and I were sitting at Spencer's house waiting for Hanna and Caleb to return from another 'secret spy mission,' or at least that's how Hanna phrased it. We began to get worried after Toby called Spencer enraged that he bumped into the duo with Tanner hours ago, and Caleb and Hanna had yet to show up. It was getting close to dark when the pair finally came into the room with solemn looks on their faces. Hanna looked like she had been crying and Caleb was solemn. It all happened in a flash…

_Flashback _

_I turned my head to the closing of Spencer's backdoor entrance, the other girls doing the same. _

"_Where the HELL have you two been? Toby called me screaming hours ago, he's already pissed that we've been interfering-"_

"_Spencer," Aria said cautiously, still observing the looks on Caleb and Hanna's faces with me, both of us realizing something was not good. _

_I took in Hanna's expression, her eyes glued to the floor and puffy from clearly crying, biting her lip and tucking her hair behind her ear. She looked completely distraught. _

"_What Aria!"_

"_Hanna?" _

_I chose to interrupt, my worried voice finally getting Spencer to notice what was actually happening in the room, looking at Hanna with more clarity and less anger now. Hanna didn't respond to me, and I shared a look with the other girls, Spencer's attention turning to Caleb who looked stern, his jaw tense. _

"_What's going on?" Spencer asked, voicing my own question. Hanna went to sit on the couch by this point, head in her hands and shaking it. Aria went over to her and put a hand on her back, rubbing it, looking up at us concerned. _

_Caleb glanced at Hanna briefly before taking a deep breath through his nose and crossing his arms. He looked back at Spencer and myself as I walked over to stand next to my friend._

"_We found something at the storage facility."_

_Spencer and I looked at each other briefly, concern on our faces. What the hell could be so bad that it made Hanna start crying again?_

"_Okay…" Spencer replied, crossing her arms to mimic Caleb, her expression getting concerned and angry at the same time. I felt my stomach drop. I had a bad feeling about whatever he was about to tell us._

"_Spit it out Caleb!" Spencer shouted now, and I put a hand on her shoulder trying to calm her down. She was already stressed out because of her conflict with Toby today. I was about to speak when Hanna beat me to it, her tear-stained face briefly poking out of her hands._

"_Just show them Caleb."_

_He looked at her briefly and then nodded, taking the backpack he was carrying and putting it on the seat as he rifled through to his laptop. He pulled out a hard drive that I hadn't seen before, and before we knew it, his computer was open and he was bringing up what looked like photos. _

_Spencer and I stepped forward and found photos of Alison leaving her house and then being followed to some wooded area outside of town. They showed her parking and going into the woods, and then her coming back and leaving, the photos stopping with her departure._

"_Where did you get these, who did they belong to?" I asked, my concern for Alison popping out._

_I noticed Spencer's hand go to her mouth as she was staring intensely at one of the photos, her eyes going wide as she shook her head. Tears started forming and I looked at Caleb, Spencer putting something together I hadn't quite yet._

"_Wha-"_

"_These photos were taken by that guy Colin who came to town. We found a clue leading to him, I guess he used to know Alison for some reason or another. And for whatever other reason, he was tracking her, maybe better put as stalking her, since she came back to Rosewood."_

"_Okay," I replied in confusion, looking back to Spencer who was deadly silent. I flitted back to Aria who was just as clueless as me._

"_Spit it out guys," Aria said, looking between everyone._

_I shook my head, staring at the photos. I had no clue when this even took place. I had never seen Alison in that dress._

"_Look at the date Emily," Spencer whispered. _

_I finally leaned in closer to see the date and time in the corner of the photograph and…oh… my… god._

_I gasped and began shaking my head._

"_N-No. This can't be," I said, and Spencer looked at me, quickly realizing that if anyone was going to fall apart over this revelation, it would be me._

"_What the hell is going on guys?" Aria finally asked, as I kept shaking the truth out of my head._

"_These photos, from this random guy," Caleb said. "They're proof that Alison didn't kill Mona. What she told Hanna was right. She wasn't even in Rosewood when it happened."_

_Aria looked shocked, running over to the photos and scrolling through them._

"_Em," I heard Hanna whisper sadly from the couch. _

_No. This could not be happening. We did not just send Alison, an innocent Alison, to jail. This couldn't be happening._

"_Sh-She… but she's A. We know that she's A," I started saying and Spencer was watching me cautiously now, still trying to process all of this on her own._

_Hanna stood up from the couch to come over and try and hug me._

"_I know I never really knew your friend Alison, but she was still a bad person. This only proves that she's not a murderer. We don't know that she's not A."_

"_Then who else would kill Mona, Caleb? And who else has been the person orchestrating all of this while Ali's been locked away?" Spencer replied briskly. Aria turned to face Spencer, looking broken at the realization of what we had done but still somehow more together than most of us._

"_I… I don't know," he replied, as in shock as the rest of us._

_Hanna finally had her arms around me and I didn't even realize I was crying until I saw them staining her shirt. What have we done? What have I done?_

"_N-No. I don't… Alison is A. I KNOW that she's A," I said, pulling away from Hanna who was looking at me with concern. _

_I could feel the tears pouring down my cheeks. This could not be happening. The girl I was in love with, the girl I believed broke my heart into pieces and lied to me… the girl I made sure I betrayed and helped throw behind bars… she, no. No. Alison had to be A, because if she wasn't A, if she wasn't a murderer, then I-_

"_Emily," I hear Hanna say again in a concerned voice, and I look at all of their eyes because I had told them about Ali and I making love that night, and told them that I had never stopped loving her until I realized she was evil. And now, all of their eyes were on me._

"_I-I can't," I choked out before running to the door and taking off down the road in a sprint. All I could remember was hearing Hanna scream my name before my feet touched the pavement._

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><p>I sigh out remembering that day. I ran until I couldn't run anymore. I kept running, hoping it would all be a lie by the time I slowed down. It turns out life doesn't work that way.<p>

The night didn't end very well. I ended up running all over town until I made it to the place where Ali's memorial used to be. The bench was still there, and I sat down on it in full on hysterics by that point. I cried until I couldn't any longer, and I fell asleep on the bench until Hanna and Aria found me, everyone breaking off into groups to go and find where I was.

When they woke me, for a second I was confused, and then all of the pain came rushing back, and like a damn breaking apart, I broke apart too, a flood of tears staining Hanna's shirt as I took the truth in. Hanna and Aria sat with me for quite a while until I calmed down, and then finally brought me back to Spencer's where we all stayed. The next day was easier, but barely so.

I finally see a sign leading me to the jail and part of me is questioning why I'm even going there. We had just turned the evidence in to Tanner with Toby's a few days after Hanna and Caleb discovered it, and while Ali's sentencing had seemed like a sure thing weeks ago, now everything had changed.

I park my car and make my way over to the visitor's entrance, the dreary and gray sky not making my mood any better, or making this place seem any happier. After giving my name and going through everything to make sure I could visit, I find a seat in the corner. I still have no idea what I'm going to say to her. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even want to see me.

With my foot tapping, I hold my face in my hands remembering my conversation with Caleb nearly a month ago when he asked me about Talia. Even then, I was so unsure. I knew what I wanted then… but I also knew that I couldn't have it, or rather, have _her_, because Alison was going on trial. I knew I should have wanted Talia, and I ended up having her up until recently. But deep down, I knew I wanted Ali, like I always had wanted Ali. You just can't hope to want something you can't have. Until now I guess.

"Emily Fields."

My head whips up to see a guard with a clipboard waving me over to walk with him. I make my way over and follow him down a lit hallway, like a back entrance as we go into a room that is known as the other side of the glass.

"Have a seat."

And I do, in the place that he indicates, saying it will be just a minute before the person I'm visiting arrives. I place my elbows on the counter, folding my hands and leaning my mouth on them now. I can't stop fidgeting because I still don't know why I'm here. I still don't know what I'm going to say. I guess Caleb was right. You run through the situation as logically as possible, but in the end, you take a leap of faith. You flip that coin.

I hear a door creak on the other side and very shortly orange comes into view. I only look at Alison briefly before averting my gaze. One quick look was enough to see orange is not her new black. I see her shift and sit out of the corner of my eye, and I know she's watching me. I can barely handle being here, and now with that look? I feel like my insides are being ripped apart.

I see her shift again, and glance to notice her hand reaching to grab the receiver, leaning back in her chair and patiently waiting. I guess Ali does have all the time in the world in here. I suck in a breath, but she knocks on the glass to get my attention, and finally I reach out to grab the phone, my gaze staring at the linoleum counter now, hand on my forehead, my other hand gripping the phone so hard I worry it might break. I hear her breathing in the receiver. She's really here. She's really behind bars. She's still the person I love, and I'm still the person who helped put her here.

"I take it you guys were the ones who found the evidence then?" she asks, watching every twitch that ripples across my face. She knows me far too well. She knows why I'm here. She knows that this recent revelation is eating me alive.

"Hm," she breathes into the phone again, and I can tell she's finding it ironic, funny even, that we were proven so wrong. That for once, Ali really wasn't lying.

"Are you going to stare at a germ-infested counter this entire visit, or are you actually going to speak to me?"

I bite my lip and shake my head, still not looking.

"I don't know what to say," is all I can whisper.

How can I expect her to ever forgive any of us, especially me? She was finally opening up to me, her first day back to school. She was trying to explain her past feelings, we made love, and even the next day her words still stuck in my head; _"I was afraid I was going to lose you."_

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

That gets my attention and I wish it hadn't. Finally looking at her face, I see how truly worn down she is. Orange is nobody's color, and her pale pallor is not blending with it well at all. Her eyes have dark rings under them from sleep deprivation, her hair looks frail, and she looks like a person who had given up fighting after one hell of a beat down. Her eyes however… they're still blue, that dark and shimmering blue. Maybe the fight has gone out of her, the flame has died out, but I know there's a spark in there just from looking in her eyes. Alison is definitely down, but I don't think she's a quitter.

"How do you live with it?"

She smirks as she watches me, and it's a question she's had to try and answer for years now, attempting to accept the horrible things she has done. She smirks because she knows how innocent and light-hearted I am, how naïve a question this is yet it's such an Emily question.

"You don't," she says, and I feel like the wind is getting knocked out of me, until she starts speaking again.

"At least not at first," she continues, leaning forward on her arms now and bringing her face closer to the glass, her eyes never leaving mine.

"You let the reality sink in, the remorse. And then of course comes the pain, which may take a while. A long while."

"You were right," I said after a long pause. Tears coming out of my eyes again, and I smile because in many ways, this entirely twisted universe we have found ourselves in is a big joke.

"You always were able to read people and situations… and of course the one time we don't believe you…"

I drift off and my face is crumbling, and I'm surprised she hasn't told me to fuck off at this point for what I've done to her. My hand is covering my eyes as I shake my head.

"I was supposed to be your rock. You were, we both were, talking… and then that night together. We were coming together, finally… and then I-" I choke on a sob, and I knew coming here was going to be an unexpected catastrophe, and I know she's still watching me.

I never thought this was how everything would fall apart. I never thought Ali and I would have had a chance together, and then of all the people to screw it up, it happened to be me, the one who was head over heels for her from the beginning. I needed Alison to be A because I needed a reason to never trust her again, to never allow myself to open up to her even when she was saying all of the right things for the first time because I had already lived through her breaking my heart once. I know I couldn't live through it again.

And so, it was easier running to Paige. It was easy to take everything A was feeding us and blame Alison. It was easy to avoid everything that was happening by focusing on Paige leaving and then moving on to Talia. It was easy to avoid, to blame, and cut out. It's always harder to forgive. Always.

"I forgive you."

My breathing stoped, and I drop my hand, jaw hanging open in shock as I look at Ali, her face poised and lips pursed in a serious manner. But her eyes… there's a sadness in them that I haven't seen in a while, since that night she was in my room where she begged with a 'please' to believe and forgive her.

"Why, Ali? I can't even… we put you in jail."

She smirks again and leans back in the chair looking off towards the floor. Somehow, in the midst of this dreadful conversation within this terrible place, a small smile manages to dance its way across her lips.

"Because the only way we'll be able to move on is if we forgive each other."

And her head turns back up to look at me, and I feel like, for the first time, I'm seeing the Alison I always believed was there underneath it all, the girls I always caught glimpses of in moments, but never the full picture.

"At least now you know the truth, that for once I wasn't lying, even if I hid some details along the way."

"Why did you keep hiding things from us? If you had just told us about Bethany-"

"Because A wants to kill us all, Emily. A wants us 6 feet underground. Being in jail is just a fun and slow torture. The bitch wanted me behind bars so that I would be forced to sit and watch as she killed each of you one by one."

I'm even more shocked now, not realizing that A's plan to torture us was more about hurting Alison solely rather than all of us equally, unlike Mona who wanted us all to pay.

"You know who A is, don't you?"

She presses her lips into a thin line.

"I have an idea… but I would never tell you at this point."

"But, Ali-"

"She'll kill you, Em. She'll kill anyone I tell, and she's killed anyone who already knew. My mom, Wilden… Toby's mom…"

She drifts off, and I'm as confused as ever.

"I don't have all of the pieces just yet, but I will soon. You'll have to keep your distance from me though, when I leave jail."

"Wha-Why?"

"Because A wants you guys to hate me, for me to hate you. A wants us separated. You can't tell anyone you came to see me today."

"A will find out even if I don't tell anyone. A always knows, Ali."

She pauses at that.

"Then… I want you to leave here in tears."

"I don't understand."

"As far as anyone is concerned, I ripped you a new asshole while you were in here. They record these conversations, but A won't be able to hack them for a while, hopefully not before I leave so I can handle it myself. But the footage of you coming and leaving? A already knows you're here."

"So you want me to cry and make it seem like you hate us all so much, you can't even forgive me," I reply, following her train of thought.

"Exactly."

I gulp and nod slowly, looking away at the floor.

"Em?"

I glance back to look at her.

"I hope you can learn to forgive me too."

"Ali-"

"Don't lie," she says with a knowing smile. "I know you've been holding back, that you were before things took a turn for the worse again. And I don't blame you… and in some ways I'm glad this all happened because you know what it's like to be on the other side a little bit, to need someone to forgive you."

She shifts and leans on her elbows again, and I hear the warning bell saying we have a minute left in this visit. Her face is an inch from the glass and it's like she's taking my whole face in and imprinting every curve to memory.

"I don't know if we're all going to make it out of this, but I want you to know that I wasn't lying to you, that night, that day… I meant everything I said. I'm just sorry it took me so long to say everything."

I feel more tears now, and I breathe out a shaky laugh.

"Well, you needed me crying as I walk out…" I say, attempting to joke in this horrible circumstance.

My brown eyes make my way back to hers, and she's seems a little bit happier, even if it's tiny compared to the misery surrounding us.

"Time to go Dilaurentis, wrap it up," a guard says as he begins opening the door on her side.

Ali's about to put down the phone before I can stop myself.

"Ali!" I shout putting my hand on the glass before she puts it down. She looks back up at me curiously.

"I love you."

She smiles back.

"I love you too, Em."

The guard is walking to her now and she puts the phone down. I see her face change as he approaches her, her cocky mask with it's knowing smirk in place. She really should become an actress, the way she can shift her appearance like that.

I realize I'm still standing there with tears on my face and shirt minutes after she's gone, and finally I stand and put the phone down. I walk down the ill lit hallway and make it to the sign out. I stare down the hall one last time and remember her saying to me the words I had always longed to hear from her. It's not hard to muster up more tears for my exit, and I turn around to walk out of the building, unsure of what's going to happen, but grateful that I at least had this last moment where I saw her. The real her.

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><p>The guard shuts the barred door behind me, and I'm so numb to the violence of sounds, I don't even flinch when the steel hits steel anymore. I take a deep breath, and I'm surprised that I still know how to smile, even if it's a tiny one.<p>

I pace slowly in the cell, mulling over my conversation with Emily. To say I was surprised to see her is an understatement. I assumed the girls didn't even know about the evidence, let alone that they helped give it to the authorities. I guess that's been one of the benefits of breaking boys hearts one by one. They seem to cling on even when all hope is lost, or was realistically never there. Nevertheless, I'll have to make sure Colin's stalker ways get destroyed once I'm out of here, not before taking everything he has.

When my lawyer told me about the new evidence, I knew A couldn't have known. The bitch was too busy murdering someone and setting me up for it to keep an eye on the person they despise. Lucky for me at the very least, as it looks like I'm going to be set free. And it also looks like Emily will finally be able to forgive me and move on. Once and for all, we have a fighting chance.

I chuckle thinking back to her completely flabbergasted expression. She's so silly, but then again, the girls often think of Ali from years ago, not the girl who was on the run. Of course she expected I would want revenge, to tear her apart… and I can't say I wasn't hurt. I can't even say I didn't think about once, maybe twice. But I also know that I needed Emily to forgive me. God, how I needed them all to, how I wanted them to when I returned so that we could all move on. I had no idea how hard it would be to ask for forgiveness and then fight to receive it. And that's why when I was looking at Emily, the sweetest girl I've ever known, tearing herself apart, I had to let her know it was okay. I have to forgive because I have so much to be forgiven for, and now that she knows my truth, now that we both have things to be sorry for, I actually believe A's plan backfired… I think Emily and I have a chance now, because A has proven I'm not a sociopath, I'm not evil, and while I lie about small things to protect people, I don't lie about awful truths. Not anymore.

I'm not a murderer. I'm not evil. I have paid dearly for what I have done to people in the past, but that's all over now. A's plan failed, and now? Now it's time to bury the right bitch in the ground.

Sitting on my bed, I pull out the photo of Emily and I that my lawyer was able to bring me. I pull a few more out, of my mom and I, the other girls. Laying back on the bed, my smile grows bigger. By some stroke of luck, I have one more chance to finish this once and for all. I have a chance to discover a truth that has haunted me for too long.

This bitch better watch out, because the original bitch is back. And now? Now I'm about to end it once and for all.

FIN


End file.
